The following are important questions to review with your healthcare provider before surgery. Ask your healthcare provider to explain the answers clearly and ask for further explanation if you are having trouble understanding an explanation and/or any medical terms.

The procedure will define things like what activities are to be done, who performs them, what is the purpose, how it is performed and then who is responsible for the procedure. Once worked through, it provides an efficient way of performing the task and in a consistent way

If a patient can grasp the consequences of refusing care, along with the benefits and risks of the treatment suggested by their physician, they have the right to decline some or all surgeries, medications, or therapies.

If you need an emergency surgery, like an appendectomy or a procedure after an accident, you usually don't have much choice in the matter. You'll likely get it done in the hospital where you went to the emergency room, unless the hospital isn't equipped to do it. If that's the case, you'll get transferred.

When my patients come to me, a primary care doctor, and ask for my advice in picking a surgeon, I usually start by asking them a few questions.